Rogue One Director Gareth Edwards Thinks AI Could Be Bigger Than CGI

Gareth Edwards is not exactly running from the AI conversation.

The Rogue One: A Star Wars Story director has spoken positively about generative AI in filmmaking, arguing that the technology could become one of the biggest creative tools in cinema. In a new report from The Hollywood Reporter, Edwards is quoted as saying AI is “going to be better than CGI.”

That is a spicy sentence. Especially in Hollywood right now.

AI remains one of the most radioactive topics in entertainment, with writers, actors, artists, editors, VFX teams, and studios all arguing over what should be automated, protected, credited, or absolutely kept away from the creative process.

But Edwards’ view seems less like “replace everyone” and more like “this tool is too powerful to ignore.”

Why Edwards’ Opinion Matters

Edwards is not some random tech executive waving a shiny toy at filmmakers.

He directed Rogue One, one of the most visually striking modern Star Wars films, and later made The Creator, an original sci-fi movie built around AI, war, technology, and humanity’s fear of what it creates.

He also has a reputation for making expensive-looking science fiction without always using the most traditional blockbuster approach. That makes his interest in AI more relevant than a generic Silicon Valley sales pitch.

When Edwards talks about tools changing filmmaking, he is speaking as someone who has spent years trying to make impossible worlds feel real.

Better Than CGI, or Just Another Dangerous Shortcut?

The “better than CGI” line is what will get attention, and probably a few angry group chats.

It is easy to understand why. CGI already changed cinema completely, for better and worse. It gave filmmakers entire galaxies, impossible creatures, giant battles, and digital worlds. It also gave audiences plenty of weightless third acts, rubbery faces, and shots that looked like someone forgot gravity existed.

AI could follow the same path.

Used well, it could help smaller filmmakers visualize huge ideas, speed up concept work, assist with previs, and open doors for stories that would otherwise be too expensive. Used badly, it could flatten art into cheap sludge and make studios even more allergic to paying humans properly.

So yes, excitement is understandable.

So is suspicion.

Star Wars Has Always Been Built on New Tools

Here is the awkward truth: Star Wars has always been tied to technological disruption.

Model work, motion control, digital editing, sound design, CGI characters, virtual production, digital doubles, Volume stages. The franchise has never been just “story.” It has always been story plus tools.

That does not mean every new tool is automatically good. It means the question is not whether technology belongs in Star Wars.

It always has.

The real question is who controls it, who benefits from it, and whether it helps tell stranger, bolder, more human stories.

Gareth Edwards clearly believes AI can become part of that future.

Whether Star Wars fans agree may depend on one thing: whether AI is used to expand imagination, or just cut corners.